The GNOME project has released GNOME 2.24 today. In case you're new here: "GNOME 2.24 is the latest version of the GNOME Desktop: a popular, multi-platform desktop environment for your computer. GNOME's focus is ease of use, stability, and first class internationalisation and accessibility support. GNOME is Free and Open Source Software and provides all of the common tools computer users expect of a modern computing environment, such as e-mail, groupware, web browsing, file management, multimedia and games. Furthermore, GNOME provides a flexible and powerful platform for software developers, both on the desktop and in mobile applications." GNOME 2.24 comes packed with changes.

Being an editor on a very popular news site and having done that for a long time you should know already that such a "joke" can be seen as pretty offensive. Open source community is place where feelings and opinions are usually strong (that's the motivation for doing anything, really) so such a stab against a major part of a major DE will draw attention even if it was intended as a joke. It could have atleast been made clearer that it was a joke and not a questional comment about Nautilus's current functionality.

Being an editor on a very popular news site and having done that for a long time you should know already that such a "joke" can be seen as pretty offensive. Open source community is place where feelings and opinions are usually strong (that's the motivation for doing anything, really) so such a stab against a major part of a major DE will draw attention even if it was intended as a joke.

Without trying to be a troll, I want to point out that if this is how you feel, then you are acting like a child. What you're describing -- a passionate dedication to a particular DE -- is the definition of zealotry. It's not healthy, even if it helps motivate developers to work harder. Zealotry blinds you from seeing the positives of alternatives, even when they're poking you in the forehead. Even those hard-working programmers who are dedicated to their project are being unhealthy, as they may be failing to take into account the user's needs, while they instead assume that their own ideals are the best. I'm not saying taking pride in your work is a bad idea, but it's important not to try and declare that your work in fallible and immune to jokes.

Secondly, who are you to declare that no one else is allowed to negatively comment on Nautilus, joke or not? He/she is an editor; hence, it's his/her JOB to be critical in his/her reviews. If every review we ever saw about every product was always hearts and rainbows, then there wouldn't be any suggestions for improvement. No software is perfect, there is always something negative (yet constructive) to say.

All that said, the underlying point still holds: it was a joke! Even without the newly-added "WARNING JOKE WARNING" tags, it was clearly a joke. Even if you claim that zealotry isn't clouding your judgment, surely you can admit that your sense of humor has been pulled pretty tight.

What you're describing -- a passionate dedication to a particular DE -- is the definition of zealotry

Having passionate and strong feelings about something is not zealotry. Those feelings could be either negative or positive, and they are just feelings about a subject. A person is a zealot when they consider every other opinion wrong, but that has nothing to do with this.

Secondly, who are you to declare that no one else is allowed to negatively comment on Nautilus, joke or not? He/she is an editor; hence, it's his/her JOB to be critical in his/her reviews. If every review we ever saw about every product was always hearts and rainbows, then there wouldn't be any suggestions for improvement. No software is perfect, there is always something negative (yet constructive) to say.

Did I say he can't write negatively about Nautilus? No, I didn't. I said he should have expected the feedback he got. It was very easy to guess the reaction of people for a poor AND recycled joke. And secondly, it's not even a review. It is just a news item that lists what's new in GNOME 2.24.

All that said, the underlying point still holds: it was a joke! Even without the newly-added "WARNING JOKE WARNING" tags, it was clearly a joke. Even if you claim that zealotry isn't clouding your judgment, surely you can admit that your sense of humor has been pulled pretty tight.

If you've ever been reading my comments you'd know that I am not a zealot. I defend things when they deserve it, and I do critisize things also, including (but not limited to) GNOME, KDE, Linux, Windows etc.

And no, it was not "clearly a joke". Judging from the other comments here I am not the only one who didn't understand it was meant as a joke.